Sidechaining

Step 5: Now we group these two layers together, and add some sidechaining. Using a compressor to sidechain the bass will have the effect of ducking the level of the bass every time the kick occurs.

To do this, we create a track with a sample that plays simultaneously with every kick (a ‘ghost kick’), then mute this track so we never hear its output. We then put a compressor on our bass channel and send the output of the ghost kick channel to the sidechain input of the compressor. This makes the compressor behave as if it’s being applied to the ghost kick, when in fact it’s being applied to the bass. We want the compressor to ‘suck down’ on the bass sound on every beat, making it quieter and keeping it out of the way of the kick.

We can afford not to duck this bass part as much, but it’s good to have some noticeable ducking in there, as this will help to glue the two bass sounds together.